Hello all, here is today's article posted on TheArmoryLife.com. It is titled “P-51 Mustang: America’s Apex Predator” and can be found at https://www.thearmorylife.com/p-51-mustang-americas-apex-predator/.
P-51 Mustang: America’s Apex Predator
- Thread starter Mike H.
- Start date
Talyn
SAINT
The P-38s (likely Js & Ls) were the first fighter aircraft of 8th Air Force to escort bombers to Berlin and back, before the P-51s although the P-51s were part of the escort force.
www.americanairmuseum.com
Also, the P-38s were able to escort bombers to Germany from Italy, a longer distance.
But the P-51 was an excellent fighter and was cheaper to build in large numbers than the P-38.
8th Air Force FO 259 BOMBER ESCORT | American Air Museum
Lockheed P-38 Lightning Single-Seat, Twin-Engine Heavy Fighter / Fighter-Bomber Aircraft
Page details technical specifications, development, and operational history of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning Single-Seat, Twin-Engine Heavy Fighter / Fighter-Bomber Aircraft including pictures.
www.militaryfactory.com
Also, the P-38s were able to escort bombers to Germany from Italy, a longer distance.
But the P-51 was an excellent fighter and was cheaper to build in large numbers than the P-38.
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Talyn
SAINT
BTW - the 108 gal "paper" drop tanks (see the second pic) really gave the P-51 its maximum range.
They were also used to make ice cream. See below.
warbirdsnews.com
They were also used to make ice cream. See below.
Necessity Is The Mother of Invention: Paper Drop Tanks of WWII
Faced with WWII metal shortages, the British came up with an ingenious design for drop tanks, making them out of glue-impregnated paper
warbirdsnews.com
Talyn
SAINT
TEXASforLIFE
Ronin
P51 is my favorite WW2 fighter, even though the f4 is a bad mamma of a plane.
kenpomaniac1958
Master Class
P51 and P-38 awesome fighter planes that kicked lots of butt in World War II. I prefer the P38 because it had a unique look that got my attention.
I am a fan of the Tiger Shark decorations and bomber art they used to put on planes. Many years ago when I was a "guitar nut" I bought a Schector telecaster electric guitar with some bomber art on it. I drove from Dallas to Memphis to pick it up...
It sure was pretty guitar with airplane art on it. I wish I still had it. I have telecaster with P90's that I bought from GuitarsforVets on Reverb. I doubt I'll ever sell/trade that guitar..
The new outside the pants holster for my Beretta APX I ordered from Muddy River Tactical has the Tiger Shark emblem. It's scheduled to be delivered on Tuesday or Wednesday. I feel like a kid on Christmas eve... I think the holster will remind me of World War II fighter aircraft and the Schector Telecaster and that's not a bad thing..
Happy New Year...
I am a fan of the Tiger Shark decorations and bomber art they used to put on planes. Many years ago when I was a "guitar nut" I bought a Schector telecaster electric guitar with some bomber art on it. I drove from Dallas to Memphis to pick it up...
It sure was pretty guitar with airplane art on it. I wish I still had it. I have telecaster with P90's that I bought from GuitarsforVets on Reverb. I doubt I'll ever sell/trade that guitar..The new outside the pants holster for my Beretta APX I ordered from Muddy River Tactical has the Tiger Shark emblem. It's scheduled to be delivered on Tuesday or Wednesday. I feel like a kid on Christmas eve...
I think the holster will remind me of World War II fighter aircraft and the Schector Telecaster and that's not a bad thing..Happy New Year...
Flyboy514
Operator
Well somebody had to do it, and I'm sure your Dad didn't mind it too much!
Snake45
Professional
That's a rare TF-51D! Amazing photo, thanks for sharing it!
They didn't make many 2 seaters ! he was on his way to nam (f4s) when state dept/cia tagged him for peace condor (only pilot left that could fly a tailwheels lol ) b4 that he was production test pilot at NAA F100d's and Lockheed f104's he should have wrote a book ... Great stories.
Miss him bad some days ...
Miss him bad some days ...
Attachments
Snake45
Professional
This would have been, what, 1966, '67? I've seen that first pic many times. In fact I built a model of the Mustang in the foreground back in the '80s.
Contact Stallion 51 Flight School, Kissimmee, FL, Lee Lauderback has more P-51 hours than anyone in the world. You can't do any better than this.
Recently watched a video (Youtube of course) that explored the fact that the engine of the Me109 was actually larger and should have been more powerful than the Merlin, but ran on a lower octane gas. The Germans actually tested captured P-51's but used their gas (lower rated octane) and were perplexed that the 51 did not seem to have the performance they expected. It WAS Youtube so... Also note that the 51 was inferior to the 47 for ground attack due to its liquid cooled engine unable to absorb ground fire like the 47 or British Typhoon.
Snake45
Professional
The Typhoon was liquid cooled, too. But its radiator was up front, and didn't have yards and yards of coolant lines running back and forth to the radiator.
RickAnderson
Custom
Those are all general issues for all aircraft during the war.....
The allies had access to the resources to make higher octane fuel, and thus their engines designed to use it, performed better....
The Germans were always limited by oil, IIRC, that is why they invaded North Africa, for oil, and why the Allies took them on there first....
The Germans invented Synthetic Oil? Not really, they were so desperate for oil they turned to alternative processes to create oil out of coal, I don't think they invented it, but rather perfected the processes... ...It was totally impractical and inefficient but they were so desperate for fuel oil they resorted to making gasoline out of coal at 10 times the cost using all sorts of chemicals to breakdown the coal and arrange it in long chain hydrocarbon... ...that is why synthetic fuel never was used after the war, its not better, the Germans only made and used it because they were desperate...
Air Cooled Radial Engines were simpler and more rugged designs, but the inline/V liquid cool engines could be controlled and tuned better to make more power per displacement. As well, air cooled radial engines being big circle engines that needed to be exposed to air to cool, produced a lot of drag, while the liquid cooled inline/V engines were slimmer and produced less drag.... ...so yes, an aircooled radial engine in most cases could take more damage than a liquid cooled engine, not the least of which, any puncture of all the cooling lines and radiators of a liquid cooled engine would result in an engine failure eventually....
Also the P-47 was a heavier and more robust design than the P-51, designed to be fast and low drag, this also lead to the P-47 having more guns and ammunition and able to carry more bombs and rockets, than the P-51, all making it better for ground attack...
The P-38, because of the twin boom design, had guns and a cannon right in front of the pilot, which made for more firepower and accuracy...
The Typhoon was liquid cooled, too. But its radiator was up front, and didn't have yards and yards of coolant lines running back and forth to the radiator.
So did the P-40 war hawk, and like the Typhoon, the huge flat radiator right in the front of the aircraft produced as much drag as radial engines....
As well, the Fowke Wolfe 190 and later F-4U Corsairs developed cowling that reduced the drag greatly while still cooling effectively.... I think the Fowke Wolfe started as air cooled radial then switched to a liquid cooled engine that they put the radiator in the open space in the cowling...
The Spitfire had the radiators in scoops under the wings, and the Mustang had the radiator in a duct, dropped below the belly, to seperate it from the boundary layer on the skin, thus getting full laminar flow air into the radiator, these produced much less drag....
The air cooled radial engine was more rugged for several reasons, not just that the liquid coolant could be lost during battle damage.... The piston arrangement, and the fact each cylinder was separate from the block and each other, meant being hit by a shell could take out a single cylinder and likely only that cylinder, leaving you 17 more to run on, an inline/V liquid cool engine, likely being hit by a shell, would damage the block and take out several cylinders, if not an entire bank of cylinders.... ...the valve train also, radial engines, like a hit would take out just one cylinder's valve train, with the all the centralized common parts, like the cams, being in the center of the engine behind the prop... ...inline V's, a hit could take out several cyinders, and entire bank even all of it....
They all did multi-rolls, some excelled better at one over the others....